The 2022 NHL Deadline is slowly coming up. It ends tomorrow on Monday at 3 p.m. ET. So far, it’s been mostly quiet outside of a couple of blockbuster trades for teams mainly in the Atlantic Divison. For the Carolina Hurricanes, they have made no moves as of this article. Some fans want the team to make moves. Although, others feel like the team staying put makes sense. Don Waddell, the Hurricanes general manager has said they could possibly not make any moves before the deadline. Furthermore, even head coach Rod Brind’Amour has stated the same sentiments. It makes sense why the team might not make any moves before the deadline closes.
This Hurricanes Team has Chemistry
The 2022 Carolina Hurricanes are in a situation vastly different from what the 2006 Hurricanes team had. This team doesn’t have glaring holes to make trades. The 2006 team saw additions of Doug Weight and Mark Recchi due to the injury of Erik Cole and upgrades that team needed. Plus, that team was in the same place points-wise as the current team is right now.
Don Waddell has been stating for weeks that the team does not want to go for rental players. They will want to acquire players for the short and long-term in Carolina. The chemistry also matters because as of March 20th, 2022, Carolina sits at 41-14-6 with 88 points on the season. Furthermore, they’re third-best in the league in points and in points percentage through 61 games. While making trades does bring excitement to the fanbase, making unnecessary moves might always be the best. Even if it might help the team, the trade needs to make sense.
Carolina has been linked to Hampus Lindholm, who is now in Boston, and John Klingberg who is now off the market. Outside of those two players, there are no real additions the Hurricanes can make. For this Carolina team, it might make more sense to look internally for help as the regular season winds down.
Carolina Should Look to Wolves for Added Depth
For Carolina, looking at the Chicago Wolves make more sense to help the Hurricanes with about 20 games left into the season. Throughout the 2021/22 season, the team has seen players from Chicago help out when roster depth was needed. Guys like Josh Leivo, Jalen Chatfield, Jack Drury, and others have seen stints with the big club at some point. Carolina should look to the Wolves as the season goes along for more depth help since Chicago is leading the Central Division by a solid margin in the American Hockey League. It would make more sense to utilize the organizational depth for help rather than trade away prospects and/or picks away for marginal help. The only benefit to a trade for Carolina right now is a long-term solution rather than a 20-game plus playoffs rental. Furthermore, the cap space for Carolina also plays into account for moves.
The Cap Playing a Factor
As of right now, the Hurricanes have $1,792,500 in cap space according to Cap Friendly. If a move was to be made, the team would have to shed cap or be able to finagle themselves to stay under the cap with a cap hit swap. There is no reason for the team to get close to zero if it isn’t fully beneficial. While that is a small factor, that does play into account what Don Waddell and Hurricanes front office wants to do. Furthermore, the team does have contracts they need to figure out with guys right now going into the offseason. While Jesperi Kotkaniemi recently “agreed” to an eight-year extension, Carolina needs to figure out what they want to do with guys like Nino Niederreiter and Vincent Trocheck.
Hurricanes Moving Pieces of the Future
There is a ton of moving pieces for Don Waddell and the Hurricanes. That is why they get paid to do what they do. For the fans, they need to understand why the team might not make moves before the deadline closes. It makes sense why Carolina might not make moves. Even if they do, it might be small depth moves. Although, even then it would be better to look to the AHL affiliate in Chicago. No matter what happens, trade deadline day will be interesting not only for Carolina, but for the league as a whole.
